“I’m not alone, my story matters”: Incarcerated women’s perspectives on the impact and acceptability of group psychotherapy involving imaginal exposure to sexual assault memories

BACKGROUND: Although it is clear that incarcerated women need access to effective therapies for trauma sequelae, some have argued that one of the most effective treatments – exposure therapy – should not be provided in carceral settings due to the presumed lack of safety and stability making such an intervention inappropriate. Group therapy, the typical mode of intervention in prisons, has also been presumed to be unacceptable for exposure-based processing due to assumptions that hearing others’ trauma narratives would be traumatizing and unhelpful to listeners. However, there is a lack of data to support either of the aforementioned assumptions. This study examined the acceptability of an exposure-based group therapy for women survivors of sexual violence who were currently incarcerated (N = 61) by asking women themselves about their experiences completing an exposure-based group therapy protocol (SHARE; Survivors Healing from Abuse: Recovery through Exposure) while incarcerated. We assessed women’s reasons for enrolling in the group, satisfaction with various therapy components (e.g., exposure, skill-building) and the treatment overall, and experiences of both sharing and listening to trauma narratives using a feedback survey that included a mix of multiple-choice and open-ended questions. Treatment dropout was examined as an additional index of acceptability. RESULTS: Treatment completion was very high (88.8%). Nearly all women who completed the group reported that they would recommend it to other incarcerated women (96.7%, with the remaining 3.3% reporting “it depends”). Qualitative results revealed overwhelmingly positive feedback about the effect of the group and indicated that sharing and listening to trauma narratives in a group setting serve discrete but dually important functions. Specifically, women almost universally experienced listening to others’ trauma narratives (i.e., exposures) in the SHARE group context as helpful—making them feel less alone and normalizing their experiences. Sharing one’s own story primarily provided an emotional release and/or transformation (i.e., an intrapersonal rather than interpersonal function). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings challenge common concerns about the appropriateness of 1) prison as a context for trauma-focused treatments, including exposure and 2) sharing trauma narratives in a group setting. Unless empirical evidence demonstrating harm is uncovered, best practices for PTSD and other trauma-related sequelae—those recommended in reputable treatment guidelines and interventions like SHARE that incorporate components shown to be effective (e.g., cognitive challenging, exposure)—should be offered to incarcerated women as part of standard of care. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40352-021-00148-4.